54 pages • 1-hour read
The Shards: A Novel
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Chapters 6-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: The section contains depictions of antigay bias, sexual violence, sexual harassment, substance use, graphic violence, graphic sexual content, cursing, and death.
Chapter 6 Summary
Bret feels disconnected from the high school scene. Unlike most of his peers, he was not upset that Ronald Reagan won the presidential election, and he only pretended to be upset over John Lennon’s assassination. Thom’s father takes Bret and Thom to the Super Bowl in January, but Bret is more interested in Thom than the game. They meet the NBC anchorperson Bryant Gumble. Four years later, Gumble will interview Bret on the Today show about Less Than Zero.
Bret wants to hang out with Ryan, but Ryan insists on “subterfuge.” Bret finishes Cujo and checks out the movies on the Z Channel (a subscription TV station that airs diverse films). Bret feels “haunted” by the song “Nowhere Girl” (1980), by B-Movie.
On Saturday, Debbie comes over before Susan and Thom. Debbie wonders if Bret truly likes her. She believes Bret has secrets and acts like a “zombie.” She wants Bret to be more “present.” They have sex, and Bret tries to express the “requisite lust.” While fantasizing about Ryan and Matt, he orgasms.
Debbie thinks Susan is attracted to Robert, and Bret believes Susan is more classically beautiful than Debbie, but Debbie has a “porn star” allure. Bret questions why Debbie is with him, as he sees himself as less attractive and cool than his peers.
Susan and Thom arrive, and the group discusses the home invasions and the Trawler’s victims. Susan wants to throw a “welcome party” for Robert, and she reveals that Robert spent last spring in a psychiatric hospital, not a prestigious Illinois prep school. Bret claims Robert is a liar and a stalker. Robert told Susan and Thom that Bret followed him.
The quartet drinks, uses drugs, and listens to a variety of music, like “Pretty in Pink” (1981), by the Psychedelic Furs. The next day, Debbie goes to Malibu to ride Spirit, and Bret goes to Matt’s pool house, Matt wonders why Bret keeps calling him and only breathing into the phone. Bret says he’s not the caller; besides, Matt never answers his phone. Matt then accuses Bret of coming over and sorting through his things. Bret denies this as well. Matt claims Robert “hinted” at Matt and Bret’s relationship. Bret repeats his suspicions of Robert. Matt doesn’t want to see Bret anymore.
Chapter 7 Summary
Bret meets Terry for lunch at Trumps (a fictional restaurant in West Hollywood). Bret wears his Buckley uniform to appease Terry, and Bret senses the restaurant’s “gay vibe.” He notices the variety of public figures and celebrities, like California governor Jerry Brown, TV actor Erik Estrada, and painter David Hockney. Steven greets Bret and warns him about Terry’s “agenda,” but Bret can take care of himself.
Terry arrives, and he and Bret discuss a variety of movies. Bret doesn’t detail his script, but he confirms that it’s about young people and has much in common with Less Than Zero. Bret’s main concern isn’t plot but establishing a “particular atmosphere.” Terry asks about Bret and Debbie’s relationship and Bret’s sexuality. Bret says he wouldn’t make Richard Gere leave his bed, and he admits that he finds Thom attractive. Terry thinks Thom and Bret are attractive.
Chapter 8 Summary
In the Los Angeles Times, Bret reads about the Riders of the Afterlife cult, who are allegedly responsible for the home invasions. Their leader is a high-school English teacher who lost his job due to sexual misconduct. Bret labels the Riders a “junior-level” version of the Manson Family. Sometimes, Bret senses a “presence” inside and outside his house.
On Thursday night, Bret and his friends go to a space on Melrose, Attila, that has pink walls and a different music video playing in each of its six rooms. Bret sees his de facto drug dealer, Jeff Taylor, talking to Robert, and feels strongly attracted to Robert. Robert asks Bret why Susan is with Thom and not Bret. He expresses his sexual desire for Susan in graphic terms, making Bret uncomfortable. Later, Bret sees Thom and Robert lying together and whispering to each other.
In the bathroom, Bret senses a mysterious figure and sees a young person who looks like a “hippie.” Moments later, a blond girl screams. There’s blood on her face as the “hippie” scratched her. The bartender neutralizes the “hippie,” and the blond girl stays and does cocaine instead of going to the ER. In the alleyway, Bret spots a beige van.
Chapter 9 Summary
Bret discusses numerous fraught weekends in the past and future, including an opulent one with the author Jay McInerney during the 2008 financial collapse. In 1981, Ryan invites himself over to Bret’s house for the entire weekend. Ryan watches football, they listen to Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen, and they have constant sex. Bret and Ryan discuss Robert and Thom. Ryan says Thom likes everyone, and Bret repeats his claim that something is wrong with Robert. Ryan would have sex with Robert, and so would Bret.
Debbie calls frequently, and Bret ignores her calls or tries to keep the conversations short. Ryan calls Debbie, Thom, and the other Buckley students “spoiled.” Ryan claims they “protect” one another from reality. Bret reminds Ryan that he’s not “exactly poor,” though he lives in the less affluent Northridge and gets a summer job.
Chapter 10 Summary
The Los Angeles Times gradually reveals details about the Trawler’s three murders. They publish pictures of his “childlike” letter, where he admits that he and “his friends” abducted Julie Selwyn. Susan and Debbie knew Julie, but they’re not concerned, and they don’t know about the Trawler. Susan returns to reading about The Doors frontman Jim Morrison in Rolling Stone. Bret is perplexed that his friends don’t discuss the three deceased girls. The “lightly dangerous” atmosphere excites him.
During the week, Ryan comes over and has sex with Bret while Rosa is there. Susan wonders why Bret didn’t want to see Debbie over the weekend, and Bret claims he had the flu. Susan thinks Bret has secrets and mentions Ryan telling his father he spent the weekend with an unnamed friend. Bret believes Susan is falling in love with Robert, and Bret notices that Susan has reached another stage of beauty; she now displays cleavage.
During gym, the students do as they please. A boom box plays Tom Petty’s “Here Comes My Girl” (1979) and Bret rereads Didion’s Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968) on the bleachers. Robert joins Bret, who confronts Robert about his graphic fantasies of Susan. Robert chides Bret for being “so sensitive,” yet he wants to be friends with Bret. Robert brings up Matt, who hasn’t been at school.
Chapters 6-10 Analysis
As is typical of the autofiction genre, the novel continues to combine real events with made-up ones, making no clear distinction between the two categories. Bret, Thom, and Thom’s father attend the 1981 Super Bowl, where Bret meets news commentator Bryant Gumble; years later, Gumble interviews Bret about Less Than Zero, just as Gumble actually interviewed Ellis about Less Than Zero. The combination of truth and fiction reveals The Malleability of Truth in Storytelling: Ellis draws from his own life and identity without feeling beholden to the factual record as a straightforward memoirist would be. At the same time, the novel’s metafictional gestures offer transparency, as Bret is open that he’s writing a story. With Terry, Bret alludes to his novel’s aim, “[I]t didn’t matter to me what the characters did. They existed, and I just wanted to convey a mood, immerse a reader into a particular atmosphere” (344). Metafiction allows Bret to tell the reader what he wants them to focus on: Like his idol Joan Didion, his primary goal is to convey “a particular atmosphere,” not to document facts. What’s important isn’t the Trawler himself, but how the serial killer echoes the dark undercurrents already flowing between Bret and his friends, forming a cool, dangerous mood.
The crime genre expands as Bret reads about the Riders of the Afterlife—the Manson-like cult that threatens the characters. Presumably, the Trawler could be multiple people—members of the cult—but Bret keeps the focus on Robert, so the crimes remain separate. The “hippie” who slashes the girl in the bathroom adds to the mystery, as his reasons for attacking the girl remain obscure. The incident reinforces the vulnerability of the teens and their potential to become victims.
Sexual relationships in the book illustrate The Complex Relationship between Sexuality and Identity for privileged teens navigating their developing sexuality within a culture rife with anti-gay bias. Abruptly, Ryan decides to spend the weekend at Bret’s house, and Bret graphically describes their sexual interactions. Bret and Ryan don’t attach labels to themselves, and Bret insists that “The sex wasn’t based on anything except an overwhelming need” (406). What attracts them is a forceful, abstract “need,” not a sexual identity or even an interest in each other as people. They avoid emotional intimacy: Bret notes that “there was not a lot of conversation” (403), and Ryan leaves at the end of the weekend without even saying goodbye. Their insistence that this sex is “just sex”—that it has no bearing on who they are—prevents them from caring about each other as people. This is one of several forms of Alienation and Suspicion within Relationships that the novel explores. Sexual secrecy leads to another form of alienation: Bret doesn’t tell Debbie or Susan about Ryan, and Ryan doesn’t tell them either. Debbie and Susan ask about Bret’s weekend, and Bret answers with lies and evasion, so he keeps them at arm’s length.
Bret’s narrative uses stream-of-consciousness, which adds further “shards” to the narrative as it jumps around in time. While Bret anchors the story in 1981, Bret isn’t 17; he’s 54. Though he’s a subjective first-person narrator, he knows what will happen, so he has a level of omniscience. With more information than the reader, Bret becomes a questionable authority. Bret doesn’t share everything, nor is he impartial. In other words, Bret is an unreliable narrator.
The story features an elite version of Los Angeles, and the setting adds to the cool, dangerous atmosphere. The wealth gives the characters access to luxury goods, and these are detailed at length in the book—for instance Bret frequently names the high-end cars he and his friends drive. The privilege creates a sense of security. About Bret and his friends, the less-moneyed Ryan complains, “They’re all spoiled and they do whatever they want and there are no consequences for any of them” (416). The Trawler supplies “consequences.” The murderer shows the well-off characters that they’re not invincible as he easily invades their homes and mutilates them.
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